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You know who you are. Others know who you are. You take your car to deliver the paper, and idle it while walking up to everyone’s house to deliver it. Unacceptable. First, I want my paper around 7, preferrably earlier. Not 9, when I’ve already left. Also, aren’t you taking a job from some 12 year old?
This article appears in Jul 17-23, 2008.
15 Comments
:oyour paperperson delivers it to YOUR DOOR??mine throws it at the END of my driveway
Okay, my mom was a paper delivery person a few years ago and I went with her on several occasions. Her route took her 3-4 hours to complete and as such, she/we had to get up 3am to ensure that her customers had their paper delivered before 7am as it’s supposed to. You should be thankful that you are able to get your paper to your doorstep as many customers, due to nasty driveways, stairs, etc. only get it delivered to the end of the driveway. As for the engine idling, is it really that big of a deal for the 3 seconds it takes to get to your doorstep? As for the stealing of the job of a 12 year old, get over yourself. 12 year olds get the jobs of delivering afternoon papers. Would you want your 12 year old delivering papers at 4 am before school every day? Sometimes, due to reasons beyond the delivery persons control, i.e. weather, printing delays, car trouble, your paper might be late. suck it up. If you really have that big of a problem with your paper delivery, call the company and bitch to them.
Actually mimi, the idling engine is a big deal. It may only be “3 seconds per house”, but for a paper route that takes 3-4 hours to complete, that 3 seconds amounts to quite a bit of idling time. Do the math, kiddo.
And why, exactly should we be grateful? When I subscribe, they promise the paper will be there before 7am, and I make the purchase because of this… They’re SUPPOSED to get it there by the time they guarantee, it’s not something we should be grateful for.
It almost seems like it would be better and faster to park close to the route and walk it. Works for postal workers.
How ’bout that muscley-armed paper boy, wishin’ he’d come by and bring me some good news…
Hey Matt , do you drive ? everybody lets their car idle for more the 10 seconds everyday , it’s called an intersection , It’s not very often I see people shutting off their car while they wait for the light to turn green.And most lights keep you waiting for minutes not seconds.
I think this has become that hate-thread we talked about. Hehe
Oops, wrong thread! (i was referring to the Salt the damn driveway thread.)
Any safety person in the transportation sector will tell you its very unsafe and unwise to shut off your engine at traffic lights. Why? Because you may need to get out of the way quickly to avoid being rear ended or being involved in a head-on situation. Never mind the fact that you might also need to move to let an ambulance, fire truck or police vehicle have the roadway.Now for those who say well no big deal, we’ll just start our car and move – what happens when your car refuses to start for whatever reason. You’ve now pissed off a lot of people by becoming a hazard in the roadway until the tow truck arrives.As for the newspaper guy idling his car, big deal – he’s getting paid well enough to waste a few bucks worth of gas.
Ex, I think (correct me if I’m wrong) the point of mentioning the idling car, wasn’t due to the delivery guys gas bill…. It’s more about the environment….plus, no one said to shut your car off at an intersection (that would just be silly!)AAAAAnd your car doesnt need to be stopped then started for it to not work, and you becoming a hazzard… cars stall… cars run out of gas… cars blow tires.. So if that was the case, NO car would be allowed on the road, let alone being allowed to shut it off at an intersection…In regards to the OP.. I agree… There is no need for the car to be running while he runs the paper to the door.. Like Matt said.. Ten seconds or more… shut it off… I get sooo damn frustrated when I see people leaving the car running, whether it be to run into a store, or waiting to pick someone up, or waiting in a drive thru (unless its timmies, I shut mine off)The guy who delivers the paper on my street, needs a new muffler… He wakes me up every morning… And if the car doesnt, him throwin the paper at my door does 🙂 I could care less if he left it at the end of the driveway, I dont read it.. its not me goin to get it 😉
Hey catlady, I realise that vehicles do breakdown but preventative maintenance of tires and drivetrain, checking your fuel level and not shutting it off when in stopped traffic all reduce the chance that you will be stranded on the road. As for the environment I’m not so concerned if we are talking about newer gas or diesel vehicles that burn fuel more efficiently. Plus the fuel at the pumps is a hell of a lot cleaner than the stuff bought 10 years ago. I just had the chance to drive a new International truck with clean diesel technology and was amazed at how the exhaust traps and and internally incinerates the soot particles that come out of the older diesels. $10,000 more for the vehicle and a mechanics headache when they first showed up but the benefits are something else.
When I was kid (13-14) I had two paper routes, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. In two years I never once got driven around in a car. The morning route was over a very long distance approx 4 miles and took 2 hours. The afternoon route was shorter in distance but with a hell of a lot more papers. Newspaper delivery folks today are just fucking lazy when they drive there cars around. Thats all there is to it… FUCKING LAZY…
Hey Matt, don’t like what I write then don’t read it. It’s pretty simply isn’t it?
Hey Floyd, it took you 2 hours to do BECAUSE you were walking. Imaging your route taking 3-4 hours to do WHILE driving. That’s a lot of freaking papers. Would you have been willing to carry hundreds of papers around? My mothers route spanned Fall River, Waverley, Lakeview and Windsor Junction. You try it and then tell me that she was “FUCKING LAZY”.